Nine years ago, I moved to a large metropolitan city to study, far away from my hometown. I came from a very religious family, so living alone, partying, staying out all night, drinking, and even owning a motorcycle were things I had always dreamed of experiencing. I had goals, plans, and honestly, I did accomplish many of the things I wanted during that time.
Fast forward to six years ago, right in the middle of the pandemic. An old friend from high school contacted me out of the blue. For context, we graduated 12 years ago and I hadn’t spoken to her in years. She told me she had moved in with some friends and that they didn’t even have a living room set—no couch, nothing. They wanted to buy furniture on credit, but they needed a co-signer.
Because I knew what it felt like to start from zero and eat meals sitting on the floor, I agreed to help. I told her clearly that if at any point she couldn’t pay the monthly installment, she just needed to tell me and I would help cover it or figure something out together.
Six months later, I got a call from the furniture company saying the account was going to collections and that legal action would begin if the debt wasn’t paid. Turns out she hadn’t paid a single cent in six months.
I tried calling her. She rejected my calls repeatedly until she finally answered and said she didn’t want to “bother me” by telling me she couldn’t pay. I told her that now we were in a much worse situation.
She promised to sell the furniture to pay the debt. She then told me she didn’t have money to pay for premium ads to get more visibility, so I offered to do it for her. I posted the listings, and within a week, I had several interested buyers. I told her—and she didn’t respond. Days passed. Then she completely stopped replying.
I contacted her roommates. No response. At that point, I was desperate. My credit history was on the line. So I went to her Facebook, filtered people with her last name (assuming they were family), and sent a message to over 20 of them. The message basically said:
“Juanita asked me to be her co-signer. She stopped paying, stopped responding, and now I’m facing collections and legal issues. I need someone to help because this is affecting my credit.”
I also contacted my mom, who is a lawyer. She later found out that one of Juanita’s aunts owed my family a favor. Out of sheer embarrassment, the aunt paid the debt.
I then personally negotiated with the collections department to settle the balance immediately, got the interests reduced, paid everything off, and removed my name as co-signer. The aunt transferred me the money and that was the end of it—financially, at least.
Later, I found out that Juanita and her friends had a falling out, she got married, and she never apologized to me. The only time I heard from anyone was when one of her friends called me to say I was a “b-word” for contacting Juanita’s family and making her look bad.
I’m genuinely glad she seems happy now—but I want nothing to do with her.
So… AITA for going that far and contacting her entire family to protect myself?
This is what people had to say to OP:
kindofanasshole17 said:
NTA. Your “friend” is an deadbeat and an opportunist. They did a shitty thing and they deserved to be embarrassed and shamed in front of their family.
tbmartin211 said:
NTA – I had a college roommate that got a job offer, (we were in graduate school, so he already had a bachelor’s degree) left school and didn’t pay his part of the rent or $300 long distance phone bill.
He basically ghosted me after he left. I finally had to contact his Dad, because as a student I couldn’t pay the whole rent nor that big phone bill. His Dad paid the phone bill and his part of the monthly rent for the rest of the year.
BunnyPlumher said:
I’m sure you’ll never fall for that lil sob story again. Of course, you did the right thing after you realised your error in believing her. Her aunt now knows what a dishonorable person Juanita is, and hopefully, the niece will not be able to con her Aunt into some greedy deal in the future. Block her from contacting you in any way you can.
StrawberryGuineapig said:
NTA for reaching out to her family for help, but YTA to yourself for agreeing to be on the hook. Thank god for your aunt, most people do not have that luxury, and would be stuck paying collections, and the legal system would agree in favour of you paying because you were a willing co-signer. Be careful, glad this situation worked out for you in the end.
